I Speak Japanese

some really horrible “lone words” in Japanese that have been loaned from English are as follows (these are butchered in Japan):
-Mc Donalds マクドナルド
-Los Angeles　ロサンゼルス
-San Francisco　サンフランシスコ
-(any city name really)
-etc.

Not bad but ya there will be a lot of words butchered doesn’t matter what language. I still butcher words constantly like the word “Shiitake” even though I have heard it and said it many times. It is a bit odd that we spell キョウト (kyouto) as Kyoto and then because of it we say it wrong.

But I was wondering would you guys be able to talk about what people would say in a conversation with a clerk? Like at a 7/11 seeing is those are so popular over there.

that is just like i hear people soooo mispronounce Hiroshima. they say it like HEROSHIMA. ITS NOT HEROSHIMA! drives me bonkers! and the worse part its mostly the announcers or narrators on the history channel.

I love your videos! They’re so informative and super hilarious!
I have to admit, I used to be one of the “nih-giri” say-ers, but I will never say it incorrectly again!
I agree with oby, you should talk about what to say to a store clerk, like how you would ask if they sell an item or something like that. I don’t know, it could be handy.

You forgot katana!

I’m sooo happy you said manga, anime, Tokyo, and Kyoto…It drives me up the nearest tree when some pronounces it wrong….^_^

Go points in this video, my friends say things wrong all the time too. It drives me crazy! Especialy Sudoku, they say that I’M saying it wrong, apparently it sounds more like “Suduku”.
But I have a question I hope you can answer for me. I was watching a lot of Japanese Drama and there was one word, or onomatopoeia, that they use and the translation is always a bit diffirent everytime. So I was hoping I could get a clarification. The word is something that sounds like “ehh”, not the Canadian “eh?” but more long on the “h”’s I guess…
Anyways, thanks! Hope you guys can help!

The Japanese pronunciations of these words are not necessarily the “correct” way to say them when you are speaking English. Just like how in Japan they say マクドナルド rather than McDonalds or コンピュータ rather than computer.

been trying to download this episode via itunes but i keep getting the “authorization is needed to access” message.

I LOVE your site!! I found it a couple of days ago by accident and watched all your videos back to back (only pausing to eat drink sleep and go out and do stuff). Its sooo interesting, and demystifying. I’m sure it would be really popular too if you did it the other way round (like a 101 of western culture and conversation for the Japanese).

Must say though I would never actually pronounce most of those japanese words properly in an English sentence cause I would sound ridiculous to other non Japanese speakers. Or it would at least clash horribly with the rest of the sentence.

Hey! I just stumbled upon your site on accident while looking for some kanji to send to a friend. I wanted to thank you for using your time to do this. I really wish that I had known about you when I was just starting out because you do a really great job of clarifying. It’s also refreshing to see you guys being so articulate at the same time as being laid back. Many people can’t find the middle ground and for me personallly it makes you much more relatable, and it makes the information sink in a bit better. I noticed that in the blog you officially posted a sort of graphic contest and was wondering how long you planned on running it, IOW: how long do I have to submit?

Hi! I’ve tried downloading the video but can’t seem to get through “access denied” error was displayed. Even in itunes I cant download this video.

I loved this! So many things I wish I’d learned BEFORE moving to Okinawa! But still… Thanks, I am going to share this with all my friends.

Great videos! Yeah, they’re hilarious too. I studied a little Spanish in high school, and Aaron’s comment about i’s pronounced as “ee” in other languages basically made a lot of sense in relation to that course.

I’m not sure why, but somehow to me, Japan seems like the number one coolest country in the world, and I’ve never even been over there. . . Anyway, keep it up guys, and good luck to you, Kevin, in Japan!

Thanks for another informative and funny HAPPY HOUR JAPAN, guys!

Other two similar sounding s Japanese word that seems to be mispronounced by North Americans is “Banzai”(ばんざい/Hooray!) and “Bonsai” (ぼんさい/miniature Japanese trees).

A Japanese friend of mine was home-staying in the Seattle area and his host family kept telling him of the wonderful “Banzai Garden” that they would take him to.
The Japanese guest just couldn`t imagine what a “Banzai Garden” must be or look like, until his host actually took him to the “Weyerhaeuser Bonsai Garden” (http://www.weyerhaeuser.com/Company/Bonsai), which gave their Japanese adult guest a laugh. He told them the word is pronounced, “bonsai”, not “banzai”. And he went on to explain the pronunciation and meanings of each.

Another case of misprounced Japanese is the word for “cute” (kawaii/かわいい) and a similar sounding word
for “scary” (kowai/こわい), both words are used often in everyday Japanese. Our Japanese junior high school girls were on home-stay in Canada and they kept saying, “Kawaii!”. The host families asked us what “Kawaii!” meant. We told them their young Japanese guests find many things cute. The hosts thought it was odd since they never thought of those particular things as suitable for the word “cute”.

So, wanting to share their guests enthusiasm the hosts would chime in, “Kowai!” (Scary!), when they saw something they thought was cute. Of course their young Japanese guests got a great laugh out of that, which had to be demonstrated with some comical pronunciation practice.

Oh the joys of cultural exchange!

BANZAI!!
Taro

Japanese dramas are great for getting past the basics. when I lived in Japan I would rent dramas and watch them over and over.

Speak Japanese Fluently

I’m glad you guys gave a nod to Japanese mispronunciations. I watch anime all the time, usually in the original Japanese with subtitles, and I either have to laugh or die a bit inside whenever I hear “Eengurish” in it…

I think it’s great you slved those mispronunciations

in germany you pronounce those words automaticly correct
and I recently read that japanese is a “austro-asian” language
maybe you have a clou what that means…